Rumor has it that Alma Osgood at one time may have had a love affair with one of the Italian artists she had imported to paint inside the mansion, and that and that her husband, John Cleveland Osgood, had him shot for allegedly cheating in a poker game.  No real evidence documents this story, however there is a secret passageway through the castle from the guest quarters, which comes out very near Alma’s private suite in this Colorado haunted house.

The biggest black mark on Osgood’s character was his reaction to the horrific Ludlow Massacre in 1914, where a camp of striking miners and their wives were gunned down and burned out by men in the employ of the mine owners.  As spokesman for the coal operators of Colorado, he loquaciously blamed the victims for the problem, although he was fully aware of, and had participated in, the evil conditions the miners endured.  Later testimony disproved his claims, but perhaps his sympathies had been blunted by the desertion of his adored wife, and later the betrayal of the miners in walking out of his mines.

Most prevalent is the smell of cigar smoke, particularly around the pool room area, when smoking is not allowed, of course, in the Colorado haunted house.  Osgood was a perpetual cigar smoker.  Other guests have reported being touched while sleeping, or of smelling the scent of fresh lilacs in mid-winter.  Housekeepers report seeing people reflected in mirrors in empty rooms and of footprints on clean floors.  With its many unsolved mysteries, the Redstone Castle is among the greatest Colorado haunted houses.

Perusing a book titled “Journeys,” the story of the Sisters of Mercy written by Kathleen O’Brien, one finds an account of the departure of Father Jean Baptiste Francolon in 1900.  The Mother Superior, Mother Baptist, harshly accused the Father of accosting children.  She then threatened to expose him.  In response, the Father cursed her, telling her that she would be dead within a year’s time.

Apparently the accusation reached the public ear and Angus Gillis, driving a wagon in town, came across an angry crowd headed for the Colorado haunted house.  Driving ahead, Angus warned the Father, secreted him under a blanket in his wagon, and drove him to Colorado Springs where Father Francolon left abruptly for Europe.

A sad and creepy postscript to this tale is that in August of 1901, the very next year, Mother Baptist died quite horribly in a train accident while traveling from Durango to Silverton.

A less substantiated incident is that of a nun, Henrietta, who hanged herself, supposedly because she was carrying the child of Father Francolon, who refused to give up his priesthood and marry her.

It seems that Sister Henrietta never left Miramont Castle, a Colorado haunted house, and is still seen occasionally.  There also is a little girl on the fourth floor, but who she is remains a mystery, although one psychic thought she might have been a patient who died there.  A transparent Victorian couple has been seen on the grand staircase, once by the president of the Manitou Historical Society, and a Victorian widow sometimes appears in the mirrors in the mother’s room.  A Native American is another regular visitor.

Phenomena are so common that there are books on the third level for visitors to relate any odd occurrences that they encounter.  And the entries are many.  With its many unsolved mysteries, the Miramont Castle is among the greatest Colorado haunted houses.